A Birthday Ode

You pampered me when I was sick,

You overlooked my backwards kick.

Behind you on a chair I’d stand,

And cross off your list with unsteady hand.

Whistling inside was not allowed,

“Go outside and run around!”

“But please don’t get too dirty,” you’d say,

“Your next bath isn’t ‘till Saturday.”

Trips to Meijer late at night,

Always filled me with delight,

Getting treats while we were out,

I knew you loved me without a doubt.

“Oh my stars!” and “Hold your horses!”

Instead of shirts, you call them blouses.

You dislike having dirty feet,

But the worst is sand between the sheets!

These memories will last forever,

My time with you I will always treasure.

I’m thankful for you everyday,

So now I’d simply like to say…

Newfangled Technology

It brings me great joy to share with you all this video of Mom trying to take a picture with my iPhone.
Also, our parents might be getting older

Hazel Triptych

I visited Janell and Andy this weekend. I think it was the first time that I didn't completely frighten Hazel. I suspect that taking her on a walk to go visit the ducks was the key strategic move in catapulting me out of the "scary monster" category and into the "buddy" category. Anyway, we had a fun time, replete with some homemade pizzas and the first backyard fire of the year, where we discovered that smores taste even better if you nix the chocolate completely and substitute peanut butter.

Janell said that Hazel is pretty shy about having her picture taken, so here are some stealth photos of Hazel somberly eating her bagels:

The Brotherhood of David and Robocross1

                      Anybody seen David's new bass guitar, and the girls' old bedroom lately?
                    Hmm...something about this picture kind of makes me think of that scenario:)

The many faces of Daniel

I was recently looking through some older pictures and was struck by how many pictures I had of Daniel.  Or rather, "selfies" of Daniel.  I forgot that he went through a phase in which he could take no less than 58 pictures of himself at a time.  I give you: exhibit A. And B. And C....

A standard Daniel smirk

 

Big Head

Not technically a selfie,  but still typical Daniel

Woops, how did Dad get in this post?

It seems no one in our family is exempt (sorry Janell)

Half-human, half-pterodactyl

Another non-selfie, but still disturbing nonetheless.  I believe Daniel was singing "If I Were a Rich Man" and dancing around Ben's house while wearing my skirt in this photo

And now, the crowning glory: the face all babies love

                                     

A Minneapolis spring break, in pictures

Enjoying the "Nemo" clownfish at the Como Zoo and Conservatory

Walking on the icy bridge by Minnehaha falls.
 (Dad, we didn't think it was all that funny either. Thanks for the warning)

A rare (possibly only) good picture of Hazel actually smiling for the camera.
James was our photographer for this one!

We talked some strangers into taking a family picture for us by the falls.
 Minutes later we saw them  walking around behind the frozen water in the falls.
 James looked incredibly jealous and tried to talk us into letting him do it. (no luck)

Before and after this photo, Hazel threw and ate many chunks of ice and snow.
This was the best  picture we could get. No one wanted to pick her up because she was all muddy. 

Not pictured:

• The amazing aquarium in the Mall of America where we got to touch live starfish and walk hundreds and hundreds of feet under water watching sharks, manta rays, and a bunch of other fish that made me glad there was a thick wall of glass separating us. 
• The pizza we ate at Pizzeria Lola, including a potato/gruyere pizza and a Korean BBQ pizza. And the vanilla ice cream with olive oil and sea salt - surprisingly good!
• James spending 98% of the week with headphones in his ears. I might start saying random things about giving away money before I say anything important, just to see whether he can hear me. 
• Visiting the Minnesota Twins stadium and watching James take pictures of/with every single statue they have placed around it. 
• Ben being a gracious host and letting the McCann's invade his house for the week. Thanks Ben! We hope you've at least partially recovered by now. :)

Illinois finally decided to participate in winter this year, so we've been fitting in a few winter activities this past week. So far Hazel's favorite snow activity is to just eat it, but this snowman  is a close second. She hugged him for a long time. (read: I had to carry her into the house as she shouted "I wuv you snowman! I be right back! I see you later!) She also ate part of his nose, but he didn't seem to mind.

Ben, or Dad?

At first glance, I'd say this is Ben.  But it can't be...there's David and Janell, so much younger!  There aren't that many years between Ben and those two.  Or is that Lisa and Daniel?  Just kidding...check below:)

Snow Day!

It's a snow day in the Keweenaw!  The girls still had school today, but we made sure there was time to play outside after lunch. They shoveled snow and made a snow cave "in case there's a tornado".

 Our snow banks have been building steadily since mid-January but we haven't had a good blizzard until yesterday.  The snow was heavy and with strong winds the drifts built quickly.  More than once, we had to clear a four foot drift next to the garage so we could get out.

"I liked to play. If you look at the picture you can see the Snow Cave.  Yay!  I love you all."  ~Ella

"I liked sliding down the snow bank into the path.  It was freezing fun!"  ~Elisabeth

Peter and Andrew would have had liked to play outside but they were getting ready for nap time.

A beautiful end to a snowy day!

Does David Resemble Uncle Pat?

This is Uncle Pat, along with Uncle Len.  Though I don't think this is the picture Dad had in mind, I do see resemblence between Uncle Pat and David.  Anybody else think so?

This Picture Says it All!

Re:  Previous post.  The classic David expression goes back a looong way!

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I saw this picture again the other day (it's from back in 2005), and was reminded of how much I love it. Now you all can love it too.

Gift List 3001: The Gifting of the Future

On the side of the blog is a list of all our names (well, almost all our names*). If you click on each of these, they will take you to a document that you have all been allowed to view and edit (well, almost all of you). The exception is that you aren't able to see your own list. This, of course, would spoil all the surprise. I am sure that Dad will immediately begin trying to hack into his own list, but I am confident that my AES-256 cryptographic algorithm can withstand his technical cunning.

It's often the case that I'll think of a gift idea for someone at a random moment. It's not really close to their birthday or Christmas. Of course, I forget about it by the time said birthday rolls around. That, ahem, is why many of you have failed to get presents from me. Ever. Now that all changes. Please feel free to use these lists when inspiration strikes.

If you don't want others stealing your gift idea, then maybe note that. Otherwise, we can use this to share ideas. We can note other stuff, like probability that they want such-and-such a gift, or estimate of price. As this is the future of gifting, there truly are no limits whatsoever. You can do anything. Yes, Daniel, that means that you can go back in time and appear within Star Wars. Yes, Lisa, that means that you can turn Karl into a penguin. Yes, Janell, that means that Shelley can really, truly talk to you.


* The name missing from the list is me. I can't set up a list and then deny myself access to it. So if someone wants to create a new document for me and share it with the remainder of the family, then I can add a link for that to the list too.

The Young Patriot

Andrew took Grandpa Mike's words of advice to heart this week.  Here he proudly displays his "I Voted" sticker.

The Scariest Jack o' Lantern

Back in September Olivia brought me a pumpkin to carve for Halloween, and I promptly set it on my front porch and forgot about it. It was way too early to start carving pumpkins after all.

The girls (Cecilia and Raina) pointed out to me that the squirrels had been nibbling on it, and sometimes they'd ask me why I was letting the squirrels eat my Jack o' Lantern. "Because I'm lazy," was usually my response.

Then a few weeks ago I went to Seattle for the weekend, and when I returned I saw that the squirrels had inflicted heavy casualties on the pumpkin, opening several mortal wounds and completely eviscerating the innards. Being the savvy homeowner that I am, I realized it was better to join the squirrels, having previously acknowledged that I could not beat them.

So what you're looking at is an entirely untouched pumpkin (well, untouched by human hands, that is), into which I've simply placed a candle. I've been told by several trick-or-treaters that this was the single most terrifying thing they saw all night, and that it's scared them away from a life of petty pranks and misdemeanor crime.

I can't wait to see what the squirrels carve next year. Happy Halloween, everyone!

Could it be the north wind they'd been feelin'?

 A few weeks back we took a drive just to enjoy the colors.  We wanted to take advantage of a beautiful, if windy, fall day.  Though our destination was on the sheltered side of the peninsula, we found that the cold wind was almost too much to bear.  But, to our delight, two freighters were bunkered down just off-shore waiting out the gale.

Rachel snapped a few photos and the kids swung for about a minute and a half before the wind forced us back to the shelter of our minivan for a quiet ride home.

 This is the lighthouse at Portage Lake's south entry in White City.  Usually the rough water is on the Superior side, but here it's on the Portage side.

Ella says, "It was a cold day.  It felt like it was freezing.  I loved swinging, though."

Elisabeth says, "I was cold.  I look like I was sad."

Peter was not available for comment at the time of this publication.

Andrew said "What's for dinner?"

Make like a tree and...

I'm thankful for a new roof

I'm thankful for a new roof.  First to God for providing the money for the materials and the time off from work, and the (sort of) good weather to get it done.  And the (sort of ) energy to work on it.

I am very thankful to those who helped- Ben, David and Oscar.  For the most part I was just helping Ben re roof the house.

I'm thankful for all the delicious meals brought in by Sandy, Sue, Judy, Joe, and Annette.  We had more cookies, pie, ice cream, etc. than even I could eat.  I gained weight on this project.

I'm thankful for all the tools that friends loaned me such as nailers and compressors to make the work go faster.

And I'm thankful for all the good advise on how to proceed.

Hopefully I won't have to worry about a leaky roof for a long time.

THANK YOU EVERYONE!

Almost Christmas!!!!

Well, with Christmas 2012 coming up pretty quickly, I've decided to release my tentative pre-October Christmas list. I'll be updating every two weeks as more gets added. Thanks everyone! Spread the holiday cheer! #poorcollegestudent


Sweet Stuff I Want/Need

Macbook Case

Star Wars Picture Book

Star Wars Poster

Star Wars Poster 2

Star Wars Poster 3

Space Pen

Bullet Pen

Hey, check out my post!

I finally got back to my epic poem of good and evil and finished it more or less.  These things are easy and fun to start and hard to finish.  I just decided to send it out the way it is- kind of half baked because it just seems you never can get satisfied with something like this and a half baked poem is better than an incomplete raw one.  It is on my blog so you have to click the link to "Dad's Blog".  It even has zombies in it so Daniel will like it.  I call it epic because everything that is called epic in real life is impressive, plus, it covers a lot of ground -from the fall of Satan to the final judgement of him.  In between is all that happens on Earth from the beginning to the end.  Don't worry, I fly through things pretty fast, it's the condensed version.